A method and apparatus for liquid phase epitaxy growth is known, e.g. from the Swedish Patent Specification 363 986. In the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 in this specification the very severe purity demands placed on the grown epitaxial layers which are to be used in lasers and optical detectors are not fulfilled. In moving the substrate between the melts, drops of melt can fasten on the edges of the substrate or in certain defects, e.g. crystalline holes, on the substrate and be transferred to the next melt which thus becomes contaminated.
In the process described in the above-mentioned Swedish Patent Specification, the substrate is adjacent the melt holder during the entire time required for heating the melts, which causes thermal erosion in the substrate.
In the illustrated apparatus, the substrate holder with the substrate cannot be drawn back, after completed growth of all the desired layers, for beginning the growth of a new substrate, and it is necessary to wait until these melts in the melt holder have solidified so as not to contaminate the melts.